Although the potential advantages of using biometric authentication over traditional personal identification number (“PIN”) authentication have long been understood, its use in consumer electronic devices has only recently become popular. With biometric authentication, a user does not need to enter a PIN and, under the right conditions, does not even need to touch the device in order to unlock it.
Most existing biometric authentication schemes use the same basic access logic that traditional PIN-based systems use. That is, a user is either authenticated or is not. The user either gains full access or no access. Furthermore, they generally do not adjust in real-time for dynamic conditions such as the movement and position of the user.